Cigna is looking for business in younger, yet-to-retire baby boomers in California, anticipating the benefits of streamlining the path from group health plan to Medicare Advantage.
Cigna is teaming up with Long Beach-based nonprofit Medicare Advantage insurer SCAN Health Plan to offer SCAN's group retiree Medicare Advantage plans to employers throughout California.
The Cigna-SCAN alliance will offer Medicare Advantage plans in the group retiree line through SCAN's California service area, with effective dates of January 2016 and beyond. While the two insurers will still sell individual Medicare Advantage plans to consumers in their current markets, the alliance offers a number of win-wins, they said.
The partnership offers employers and their employees "new options and streamlined benefit administration," better coordination with health providers, and "a seamless employee transition from Cigna to SCAN upon retirement and Medicare eligibility," the companies said in a media release. The alliance's plans will especially focus on independent living benefits, covering in-home services and medical supplies.
"Through this alliance, we can now offer employer groups in California a full suite of benefit capabilities for active employees and retirees," said Chris De Rosa, president of Cigna's West region. "Employers and customers will benefit from the many quality programs, outstanding member service and expertise serving California seniors that the SCAN brand embodies."
SCAN CEO, Chris Wing, said Cigna's brand of promoting "well-being and sense of security" aligns with SCAN's mission of helping seniors live healthy and independent lives--a great challenge amid the aging of American society.
An HMO founded in 1977, SCAN has about 170,000 members, including 3,000 in its employer group waiver plan, which could grow through this alliance, even though employer-sponsored retiree health plans have been declining.
More than 2.7 million American retirees are covered in Medicare Advantage employer group waiver plans, and that enrollment has grown by nearly 700,000 since 2010, particularly among public employer workers, who account for half of the EGWP membership, according to Avalere Health.